Chandrababu's guesthouse on Krishna riverfront attached by AP government

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government has attached the famous guest house of Telugu Desam chief and former chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on the Krishna riverfront. Assets of the family and relatives of former minister Narayana have also been attached by the AP CID, besides freezing their bank accounts. The guest house had been built by businessman Lingamaneni Ramesh in Undavalli.

The authorities have taken action under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, of 1944, after informing the local judge. This was done in the course of investigation of cases in which Chandrababu, while he was chief minister and P Narayana, a minister in Naidu’s cabinet, jointly misused their positions and committed an alleged “quid pro quo” vis-à-vis the larger Amaravati scam.

The Investigation Officer (IO) of the AP CID intimated the court of the Special Judge for special police establishment (SPE) and anti- corruption bureau (ACB) cases about the decision for attachment of the guest house.

The IO attached the property following clearance from the state home department, which came in the form of a GO issued on May 12.

The guest house was commonly known as ‘Karakatta House’. Its attachment has come as a shock to Chandrababu as he is set on the road to become accused number 1 and Narayana the A-2 in the Amaravati land scam.

Originally belonging to real estate businessman Lingamaneni Ramesh, the guest house was mired in legal tangles following the registration of a series of cases against it.

Chandrababu Naidu as then chief minister, and educationist-turned-politician Narayana as the then minister in the TD government have been accused of misusing their official positions and indulging in quid pro quo deals.

The investigating officials in these cases say the Lingamaneni’s guest house was acquired in exchange for favours done (by Naidu and Narayana) in the form of malpractices, by altering the alignment of the CRDA master plan and the outer ring road project.

It was found in preliminary investigations that all norms and rules including the relevant laws, the guidelines of the Central Vigilance Commission and the general fiscal regulations were flouted for this purpose by Chandrababu Naidu and others.

Chandrababu and Narayana were also accused of nepotism by misusing their official power to benefit their relatives and close associates. The TD chief allegedly acquired the guest house in return for ensuring huge benefits from the government to Lingamaneni Ramesh.

“On the basis of investigations, the crime investigation department (AP-CID) requested the state government to initiate the attachment procedures as per the criminal law amendment act of 1944. Accordingly, the YSRC government issued orders, as per law, after giving prior information to a local judge, for the attachment of the Lingamaneni guest house built on the banks of River Krishna,” officials said.

Meanwhile, the AP CID attached the assets of the family and relatives of former minister Narayana besides freezing their bank accounts. These include about 75,880 sq-ft of lands that were registered in the names of Narayana’s relatives and alleged benamis. The properties belonging to Narayana’s wife Rama Devi and son-in-law Puneeth were also among those attached by the CID.

The CID investigation stated that Chandrababu accumulated huge assets under Lingamaneni Ramesh's name. “The alignment of the inner ring road has also been changed to benefit him.”

“In order to increase the value of his assets, he changed the capital plan at the expense of the farmers. TD leaders bought land in the capital region in the months of June, July, and August in 2015 for ₹3.66 crore. The land was bought in the name of Potthuri Pramila, an employee of Narayana Vidya Sansthan, and treasurer Rapuru Sambasiva Rao,” it was stated.